Helicopter carrying Iranian president crashes – reports

A helicopter on which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was a passenger encountered a “hard landing” on Sunday, according to unconfirmed reports by Iranian state television and other media outlets.

The Interior Minister of Iran Ahmad Vahidi has reportedly confirmed that the helicopter with Raisi on board had made a hard landing in the city of Jolfa in the northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan.

Several other senior officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Governor of East Azarbaijan Malek Rahmati, were traveling with the president, reports claim.

About an hour after the incident, rescue teams reportedly managed to reach the area and began a search operation that is currently ongoing.

The president is fine, news agency Mehr has claimed, and is traveling by car as part of a motorcade to Tabriz, the provincial capital.

There were three helicopters in Raisi’s convoy, Tasnim writes, amid conflicting reports. Two of the aircraft, which were carrying some ministers and officials, reached their destination safely. The agency claims that some of the officials who were with the president at the time of the incident were able to contact what Tasnim described as a “center,” which may indicate that the incident had not resulted in serious injury.